Storage cabinet



April 28, 1942. E, M FRlTz 2,281,489

` l STORAGE CABINET Filed Aug. 30, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IUI f iwf? x W\ Q HIIIImIHL April 28, 1942. E. M. FRITZ STORAGEICABINET Filed Aug. 30, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 28, 1%42 STORAGE CABINET Edward M. Fritz, Grand Rapids, Mich., assigner Grand Rapids Cabinet Company, Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application August 3), i939, Serial No. 292,662

(Cl. S12-1,50)

11 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to storage cabinets and is in particular concerned with refrigerated cabinets of the type utilized for the cold storage of food, viands, milk, ice cream, and other articles of similar nature.

More specifically, the invention seeks to provide improvements in the internal construction of the cabinet and its associated parts, which will enable more ready access to the stored articles, and which may conveniently be removed to enable cleaning of the cabinet and its being maintained in a sanitary condition.

It has heretofore been proposed to provide cold storage cabinets arranged to have a plurality of shelves or receptacles movably supported in the upper part of the cabinet upon tracks or rails permanently secured to the adjacent side walls. In some arrangements, the track has been4 disposed in a groove and in others the track has been secured to the wall surface by welding,

riveting, et cetera. Not only .are such constructions expensive and necessitate installation at the time the cabinet is built, but they are undesirable in cabinets to be utilized for the cold storage of food.

Having the foregoing as well as other objections to the present arrangements in mind, the hereindescribed invention contemplates an improved rail or track construction which is removably supported within the cabinet independently of its wells and may be readily installed in cabinets already in use.

The walls of the cabinet may therefore be made with plain surfaces which may be easilyv cleaned, and since the track may be readily removed from the cabinet, it may also be easily and thoroughly cleaned, when desired.

A further object is to provide removable partitions within the cabinet, which will mutually cooperate with the rails to retain each other in position, the partitions retaining the rails against inward movement away from the adjacent cabinet walls, and the rails being arranged to maintain the partitions upright and in predetermined spaced relation.

A further object is to provide an improved clip arrangement for supporting the partitions in such manner as to enable their being easily removed froin the cabinet, when desired.

It is yalso an object of the present invention to provide an improved article of manufacture in the form of a track or rail structure which is particularly adapted for use in storage cabinets of the herein described type.

Still another object of the herein described invention is to provide an improved track construction embodying a protective hood.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the following Yde- A tailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a single embodiment thereof, and in which:

Figure l is a fragmentary longitudinal section,

taken through a storage cabinet embodying the Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view 'look-f ing toward the inner surface of one of the cabinet' walls, showing the cooperative relationship of the partitions, track and receptacle supported for movement thereon, taken substantially on line V-V of Figure 3.

As shown in the drawings:

In the illustrated embodiment of the presen invention, the cabinet or box is disclosed as beingE of substantially rectangular shape and con-l I il and an in? terior or lining II separated by suitable heat in-y structed with an exterior wall sulating material such as cork I2. As shown, the sides and end portions of the cabinet may have their inner lining wall made double to provide a space I3 in which a suitable refrigerating medium may be conducted as by coils Ill. The top 4of the cabinet is open and provided with cross bars I5 which cooperate with the adjacent upper wall margins of the cabinet to form entrance openings permitting access tothe interior v0f the cabinet. These openings are closed by `suitable cover members I6 having hingedly connected sections and forming the;

necessary heat insulation similar to the bottom and side wallsof the cabinet.

Extending along each interior is an elongate rail II of L-shaped construction, this rail having a edge margin bent back leg portions 2&1 lying substantially in the plane of the outer y surface of leg IS.

a receptacle in they side of the cabinet in itsv leg I8 `which is dis4 posed vertically and a horizontal leg having its Associated with the rail Il' is a plate 2l which extends longitudinally of the rail and is secured as by welding to the outer surface of leg I8. It will be noted that the lower margin of the plate 2| extends below the leg portion 2U and has a portion 22 bent back upon itself to form a double layer extending below the rail.

The upper marginal edge of the plate 2| is deflected over the upper edge of leg IB to form a right-angular portion 23 having its edge margin again deflected downwardly at right-angles as shown at 24. The portions 23 and 24 provide a rail hood.

The rail Il with the connected plate 2| is removably supported above the bottom of the cabinet by means of end posts 25` which are arranged to bear against the bottom of the cabinet at their lowermost ends and are secured to the rail structures at their uppermost ends. Thus, the rail structure with its supporting end posts forms a unitary structure which is not secured to the interior walls of the cabinet in any way and may readily be removed from the cabinet for cleaning, when desired.

The rails are retained against inward lat-eral movement away from the associated inner walls of the cabinet by means of transversely extending partitions 26 which, if desired, may be of grid-like construction with a heavy rectangular frame 21 having a plurality of parallel spaced apart wires 28 secured therein. The partition members may be spaced at any desired interval longitudinally of the cabinet, and there may be as many partitions as desired. The partitions are respectively supported at their sides by means of U-shaped angular clips 29 secured in the angle between the leg portions 2t and the folded back portion 22, each of these clips having spaced leg portions 3l) and 3l for receiving the uppermost corner the partition. The lower corner portion of this side is arranged to be vertically supported by means of Va similar clip 32 having spaced legs 33 and 3d, this clip being secured in any suitable manner to the adjacent inner wall of the cabinet.

With this construction, it will be apparent that the partitions and track structure mutually cooperate to retain each other in proper position, the partitions retaining the opposite track structures from inward movement away from their associated cabinet walls, and the track structure acting through the clips to maintain the partitions upright. Moreover, the partitions are easily removable as is also the track structure as previously described.

The opposite tracks are supported substantially midway of the cabinet with the partitions being disposed in the lower portion of the cabinet. The upper portion of the cabinet is arranged to contain a plurality of v,receptacles 35 which are individually supported on the opposite tracks for sidewise movement longitudinally of the cabinet. Any number of receptacles may be provided, although it is preferred to provide one less receptacle than the number of spaces formed in the lower portion of the cabinet by the partition. Such an arrangement enables shifting of the receptacles so as to provide an entrance space in the upper portion of the cabinet to any space in the lower portion of the Cabinet desired.

Each receptacle is provided at its ends' with a' pair of anti-friction devices 355 which may constitute ball bearing mounted rollers.

Referringto Figure 4, it will be noted that portion of one side of 40 these rollers are of greater diameter than the space between the deflected portion 24 of the hood and the leg I9 of the rail member. In order that the rollers may be placed onto the rail or removed therefrom, the hood of each rail is provided with suitably spaced notches or cutout portions 31-31 for receiving the rollers therethrough when positioning a receptacle on the rail.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the present invention provides an improved cold storage cabinet for the storage of foods, viands, milk and other articles of like nature having an improved internal construction which may be installed in cabinets already in use; v

which may be easily removed for cleaning and enabling the cabinet to be kept in a sanitary condition; which embodies an improved arrangement of partitions and track structure which mutually cooperate to retain each other in position, the partitions retaining the rails against movement away from the interior associated wallsI of the cabinet and the rails maintaining the partitions upright and in predetermined spaced relation; which embodies improved means for removably supporting the partitions; and which includes an improved track construction with a protective hood that may be fabricated as a separate article of manufacture.

It is, of course, to be understood that although I have described in detail the preferred embodiment of my invention, the invention is not to be thus limited but only insofar as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A storage cabinet comprising a box having side walls and adapted to contain a storage receptacle, opposite rails adjacent the side walls for supporting said receptacle, partitions extending between said rails and bracing them` against inward lateral movement, and clips carried by said rails for retaining said partitions against lateral displacement.

2. A storage cabinet comprising a box having .side walls and adapted to contain a storage receptacle, opposite removable rails adjacent the side walls for supporting said receptacle, removable partitions extending between said rails, and` clips carried by said rails for retaining said par- ,titions in spaced upright positions, but enabling removal thereof.

3. A storage cabinet comprising a box having side walls and adapted to contain a storage receptacle, opposite removable rails adjacent the 55, side walls for supporting said receptacle, removable partitions extending between said rails, and

aligned clips carried by said rails and said side walls for removably supporting the partitions upright.

i 4. A storage cabinet comprising a box having side walls and adapted to contain a storage receptacleopposite rails adjacent the side walls for supporting said receptacle, means supporting said rails for removal in a vertical direction, and

65. a removable partition extending between said rails and bracing the rails against inward lateral movement.

5. A storage cabinet comprising a box having side walls and adapted to contain a storage receptacle in its upperV part, an upright partition in the lower part of the box below said receptacle, and removably supported means including rail members adjacent the side kwalls for movably supporting the receptacle, said means nor- .mally acting to retain said partition in an upright position and oppose its vertical movement, but enable removal of the partition when said means are removed.

6. A storage cabinet comprising a box-like structure having side Walls, a plurality of partitions extending between said Walls, and means for removably supporting said partitions in upright positions at predetermined spaced intervals Within the cabinet, said means including elongate removable rail members adjacent said side Walls and supported independently thereof.

'7. As an article of manufacture, a removable rail for storage cabinets comprising an elongate L-shaped member, a plate extending lcngitudij nally of said member and secured in face engagement to the outer surface of one leg of said member, said plate having one of its lateral margins folded back upon itself to form a double thickness portion extending substantially at right-angles beyond the other leg of said member, and the other marginal edge being deflected substantially at right-angles to form a hood extending in the same direction as said latter other leg, but spaced therefrom.

8. As an article of manufacture, a removable rail for storage cabinets comprising an elongate L-shaped member, a plate extending longitudinally of said member and secured in face engagement to the outer surface of one leg of said member, said plate having one of its lateral margins folded back upon itself to form a double thickness portion extending substantially at right-angles beyond the other leg of said member, and the other marginal edge being deected substantially at right-angles to form a hood extending in the same direction as said latter other leg, but spaced therefrom, and U-shaped angle clips spaced along and secured to said double thickness portion.

9. As an article of manufacture, a removable rail and partition supporting means of unitary construction for storage cabinets, said means comprising an elongated L-shaped member having one of its legs folded back upon itself in spaced relation, a plurality of U-shaped clips disposed adjacent said folded back leg, said clips being spaced apart in a direction lengthwise of said member, and means interconnecting the clips and member vvherebyl the latter forms a support for the former.

l0. A storage cabinet comprising a box having side Walls and adapted to contain a storage re-y ceptacle, opposite rails adjacent the side walls for supporting said receptacle, and partitions cooperating with said rails to brace them against inward lateral movement by means of partition retaining clip means interconnecting said rails and said partitions forv detachably connecting said rails and partitions together.

l1. As an article of manufacture, a removable rail and partition supporting means of unitary construction for storage cabinets, said means comprising an elongated member formedinto a rail, a plurality of partition retaining means in juxtaposition to said rail, said partition retaining means being spaced apart lengthwise of the rail, and means interconnecting the partition retaining means and the rail whereby the latter forms a support for the former.

v EDWARD M. FRITZ. 

